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Theatre de l'Ange Fou is a theatre company based in London, England. Its artistic directors are Steven Wasson and Corinne Soum. It was created in Paris in 1984 and relocated to London in 1995. It was co-founded with the International School of Dramatic Corporeal Mime, formerly known as the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique, a theatre school that teaches corporeal mime.
The Theatre de l'Ange Fou and the International School of Corporeal Mime (formerly known as the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique) were created in Paris in 1984 by Wasson and Soum, the last assistants of Etienne Decroux, "the father of Modern Mime", and relocated to London in 1995. The International School of Corporeal Mime is devoted to the development of the technique, growing repertoire and dramaturgy of Corporeal Mime, and offers a full range of professional training programmes.
For a time, the theatre and company was in a country church in Spring Green, Wisconsin. [1]
The company has toured throughout Europe, Russia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the Middle East. It has created more than 20 original plays, devised pieces as well as adaptations, ranging from duets to large ensemble works: The Little Dictator (parts I & II), Beyond the Garden, Crusade, Entangled Lives, The Government Inspector and The Orpheus Complex.
Using Corporeal Mime as the base of their creative work, the dramaturgical construction of their plays takes the form of a voyage where the characters traverse varied landscapes and lifetimes, some real, some imaginary. The world of the Theatre de l'Ange Fou, this visionary world of contrasting light and darkness, of metamorphosis, is populated by a family of invented archetypes in unknown yet familiar settings. Throughout their various productions, the company explores the infinite possibilities of the interaction between the corporeal score and the spoken text, music and film.
Alongside this personal artistic development, in 1992 Wasson and Soum took up the challenge of re-introducing the repertoire of Etienne Decroux to the public with their reconstruction, and performances by the Theatre de l'Ange Fou, of most of his major pieces (including La Meditation, Les Arbres and L'Usine) in The Man Who Preferred to Stand, and more recently, Passage of Man on Earth and Resonance. This was the beginning of the transmission process that is today the basis of the teaching in the International School of Corporeal Mime.
Marcel Marceau was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence" and he performed professionally worldwide for over 60 years. As a Jewish youth, he lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance during most of World War II, giving his first major performance to 3,000 troops after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Following the war, he studied dramatic art and mime in Paris.
Physical theatre is a genre of theatrical performance that encompasses storytelling primarily through physical movement. Although several performance theatre disciplines are often described as "physical theatre," the genre's characteristic aspect is a reliance on the performers' physical motion rather than, or combined with, text to convey storytelling. Performers can communicate through various body gestures.
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.
Jacques Lecoq, was a French stage actor and acting movement coach. He was best known for his teaching methods in physical theatre, movement, and mime which he taught at the school he founded in Paris known as École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq. He taught there from 1956 until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999.
Étienne Decroux was a French actor who studied at Jacques Copeau's École du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–corporeal mime. During his long career as a film and theatre actor, he created many pieces, using the human body as the primary means of expression.
A mime artist or just mime is a person who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art. Miming involves acting out a story through body motions, without the use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer would typically be referred to as a mummer. Miming is distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a character in a film or skit without sound.
Thomas Leabhart is an American corporeal mime and corporeal mime teacher.
Corporeal mime is an aspect of physical theater whose objective is to place drama inside the moving human body, rather than to substitute gesture for speech as in pantomime. In this medium, the mime must apply to physical movement those principles that are at the heart of drama: pause, hesitation, weight, resistance and surprise. Corporeal mime accentuates the vital importance of the body and physical action on stage.
Samuel Ben-Or Avital is a professionally trained mime artist, teacher of mime, kinesthetic awareness, and Kabbalah. Born In Morocco, Avital later traveled to Paris where he studied with the French masters of mime, Etienne Decroux, Jean-Louis Barrault, and Marcel Marceau. Avital has performed in New York with the Pantomime Theater of New York, off-Broadway, and has toured North and South America. At the present Avital teaches Kabbalah in Colorado in the United States although he is best known as a mime.
Kevin Michael Collins is an American-Irish stage and screen actor of Irish-Italian descent.
The American Mime Theatre is a professional performing company and training school based in New York City. It was founded in 1952 by Paul J. Curtis. It is the oldest continuing professional mime company in the United States. The theatre ran under the direction of founder Paul J. Curtis for 60 years. Some of his notable students include Anita Morris, Sally Kirkland, Keith Berger, and Natasha Maidoff.
Roberto Escobar and Igón Lerchundi were pioneers in the art of miming in Argentina and in Latin America. In 1959 they both founded the "Compañía Argentina de Mimos" and toured around many countries in America and Europe. They later participated in the First International Pantomime Festival, which took place in Berlin in 1962, along with the most renowned mimes in the world Based on their success in this Festival they organized a long tour throughout Europe. At that time they had the opportunity to study in Paris with Etienne Decroux, the creator of 20th-century miming. Throughout their long careers they have obtained innumberable national and international awards. In 1973 they created the "Mimoteatro Escobar-Lerchundi", the only theatre dedicated to miming in America and one of the few in the world. Their Miming School is located at this theatre, in the traditional San Telmo district, where they receive students from all over the country and the world.
Steven Wasson, is the director of Theatre de l'Ange Fou, and the International School of Corporeal mime. He studied literature and drama at the University of Northern Colorado with Dr. Lloyd Norton, and mime with Dr. E. Reid Gilbert and Thomas Leabhart at the Valley Studio in Madison, Wisconsin. Coming to Paris, he was a student of Étienne Decroux and later became his assistant, participating in Decroux's teaching, research and creations. Decroux created two pieces on Wasson: Le Prophete and Le Duo dans le Parc St. Cloud. Wasson has created and directed all of the plays for the Theatre de l’Ange Fou, and has performed in many of them. He has worked as an actor in film, TV and live radio in the U.S. and France. In 1996, he reconstructed and directed the mime scenes for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Les Enfants du Paradis. He has also worked with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and in India with the Avatar Meher Baba Theatre. As the director of Shadow Films Ltd., Wasson creates artistic and pedagogical films for the company and the school.
Daniel Kramer is an American-born theatre, opera and dance director. He was appointed Artistic Director of the English National Opera in April 2016.
Ulrika Christina Elisabeth Nord, stage name Ika Nord is a Swedish actress and mime. In Sweden, she is best known for her work in children's television shows. Internationally, Nord is best known for her role in Let the Right One In.
Vahram Zaryan is a French performance artist, mime, dancer, director, and choreographer of Armenian descent.
Jim Moore is an American photographer who has documented the variety arts since the 1970s. His photographs helped Philippe Petit plan his tightrope-walking stunt between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 and were prominently featured in the Oscar-winning film Man on Wire.
Suzanne Lebeau is a Québécois actor and writer.
Enzo Cormann is a French writer, playwright, theater director and composer. He is the author of around forty plays. Until 2019 he worked as a lecturer at several international theater schools. In 2020 he was awarded with the Grand prix du théâtre.
Coordinates: 51°33′59″N0°07′21″W / 51.5663°N 0.1225°W
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